PSYC 100 Winter W23

Social Thinking and People in Groups

Social Cognition

The study of how people think about the world

Social Neuroscience

The study of how our social behaviour both influences and is influenced by the activities of our brain

Social Situation

 The people with whom we interact with every day

Frequently a stronger influence on behaviour than are a person’s characteristic

Create social influence

Social Influence

The process through which other people change our thoughts, feelings and behaviours and through which we change theirs

Kurt Lewin + Equation for Person-Situation Interaction

Behaviour = f(person, social situation)

Indicates that the behaviour of a given person at any given time is a function of both characteristics of the person and the influence of the social situation

Person-Situation Interaction

The joint influence of person variables and situational variables

Social Support

The perception or actuality that we have a social network that can help us in times of need + provide us with a variety of useful resources

Culture

 A pattern of shared meaning and behaviour among a group of people that is passed from one generation to the next

Individualism

Belief system that exalts freedom, independence, and individual choice as high values

Collectivism

Belief system that emphasizes the duties and obligations that each person has toward others

Attitude

A psycholoigcal tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour

Attitude Object

A person, a product, or a social grouo

Attitude Strength

The importance of an attitude, as assessed by how quickly it comes to mind

Principle of Attitude Consistency

For any given attitude object, the ABCs of affect, behaviour and cognition are normally in line with each other

Theory of Planned Behaviour

The relationship between attitudes and behaviour is stronger in certain situations, for certain people and for certain attitudes

Self-Monitoring

Individual differences in the tendency to attend to social cues and to adjust one’s behaviour to one’s social environment

High Self-Monitors

Those who tend to attempt to blend into the social situation in order to be liked

Low Self-Monitors

Those who are less likely to attempt to blend into the social situation in order to be liked

Expert Communicators

Perceived as trustworthy because they know a lot about the product they are selling

Sleeper Effect

Attitude change that occurs over time

Spontaneous Processing

Direct, quick, and often involves affective responses to the message

Thoughtful Processing

Controlled + involves a more careful cognitive elaboration of the meaning of the message

Thoughtful Message Processing

When we think about how the message relates to our own beliefs and goals + involves our careful consideration of whether the persuasion attempt is valid or invalid

Forewarning

Giving people a chance to develop a resistance to persuasion by reminding them that they might someday receive a persuasive message, and allowing them to practice how they will respond to influence attempts

Inoculation

Building up defences against persuasion by mildly attacking the attitude position

Psychological Reactance

 A reaction to people, rules, requirements, or offerings that are perceived to limit freedoms

Subliminal Advertising

Occurs when a message, such as an advertisement or another image of a brand, is presented to the consumer without the person being aware that a message has been presented

Ostracism

Being excluded and ignored by others

Social Comparison

The process of contrasting one's personal qualities and outcomes, including beliefs, attitudes, values, abilities, accomplishments, and experiments, to those of other people

Social Identity Theory

A theoretical analysis of group processes and intergroup relations that assumes groups influence their members' self-concepts and self-esteem, particularly when individuals categorize themselves as group members and identify with the group

Collective Self-Esteem

Feelings of self-worth that are based on evaluation of relationships with others and membership in social groups

Mark Leary’s Sociometer Model

A conceptual analysis of self-evaluation processes that theorizes self-esteem functions to psychologically monitor of one's degree of inclusion and exclusion in social groups

Social Facilitation

Improvement in task performance that occurs when people work in the presence of other people

Teamwork

The process by which members of the team combine their knowledge, skills, abilities, and other resources through a coordinated series of actions to produce an outcome

Group Polarization

The tendency for members of a deliberating group to move to a more extreme position, with the direction of the shift determined by the majority or average of the members' predeliberation preferences

Group Development Stages

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning

Blatant Biases

Blatant biases are conscious beliefs, feelings, and behaviour that people are perfectly willing to admit, are mostly hostile, and openly favour their own group

Social Dominance Orientation

Describes a belief that group hierarchies are inevitable in all societies and are even a good idea to maintain order and stability

Preferred arrangement of groups with some on top and some on the bottom

Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)

Endorses respect for obedience and authority in the service of group conformity, focuses on groups competing frameworks

Implicit Association Test

An implicit attitude test that assesses a person's automatic associations between concepts by measuring the response times in pairing the concepts

Automatic

A behaviour or process has one or more of the following features: unintentional, uncontrollable, occurring outside of conscious awareness, awareness, and cognitively efficient

Self-Categorization Theory

Develops SIT's point that people categorize themselves, along with each other into groups, favouring their own group

Aversive Racism

Unexamined racial bias that the person does intend and would reject, but that avoids inter-racial contact

Stereotype Content Model

Shows that social groups are viewed according to their perceived warmth and competence